Just the Two of Us
Alex Reynolds did not regret his choices. Whether they were cruel or wicked made no difference. It was easier to live in this world wanting evil than to die wanting good.
"Has your audience with His Majesty concluded, sir?"
"It has. You've done well. Protecting His Majesty is the very duty of this palace guard, so keep at it."
"Yes, sir!"
Convenient words. Words he did not mean. Speech meant only to construct a social mask was a comfortable thing.
Even if people truly believed Alex was in the wrong, they would still insist he wasn't that kind of person, shouting about only his virtues. And even if they didn't, once you bestowed a favor upon them, they would always repay it. The more naive and good-hearted someone was, the less they could ignore a debt of gratitude.
He had wanted to bestow such a favor upon Olivia as well, but the Hero Olivia Reinhardt had been too strong. There had never been an opportunity. And the one who had actually managed it had not been Alex, but Lois.
He always looked at her the way one might look at a monster—and yet, whenever Olivia was actually in danger, Lois reacted faster than anyone. Everyone else, Alex included, looked at the Hero Olivia Reinhardt's strength and judged her a monster. Only Lois seemed to evaluate her as simply a strong person.
Lois, is it.
It was a name that stirred something like longing. He had been surprised when they met again in the Hero's party. At first, Lois had seemed as though he wanted to acknowledge their acquaintance, but when Alex ignored him, he stopped trying after that and spoke only as a fellow member of the party.
That had been, without question, the reaction Alex wanted. He could have praised the attitude as wise. And yet a nameless tightness lingered in his chest and soured into irritation.
"……"
No. It didn't matter what became of Lois. He was a Spiritist. He would be eating well and living well somewhere Alex knew nothing about. Spiritists were rare enough that they could find work anywhere they went. Besides, Alex currently had matters important enough that Lois's fate was of no concern at all.
Once everything was finished, he might go and speak with him once. But that could be years from now. Perhaps even decades.
I've grown sentimental, of all things.
He had no need for anything so human as feeling. All he needed was to pile up wealth and honor in order to survive, and to make the kingdom the strongest it could possibly be. That was the only emotion permitted to Alex Reynolds now.
If only there had been some incident that could have corrupted him. He had simply grown this way, become this way. There were no circumstances. He was simply this kind of man.
"Lord Alex!"
"Miss Velita, what is it? Have you finally made contact with Miss Rayna?"
"No, it isn't that……"
"Hm?"
"Lady Lilith has……"
"Lady Lilith?"
What about Lilith?
"She used a warp orb to leave for East Port!"
"……Hmm."
Alex frowned. So she had been suspicious after all.
This is why I've always disliked her.
She had an unnecessarily sharp intuition, and the drive to match it. If only she had used that instinct—which skipped every process and extracted only results—a little more wisely. Unfortunately, a woman like Lilith Cliphort did not seem to be the type who could live that wisely.
The texture might have been somewhat different, but she was the same as Olivia. She would not bow her head and die. She was the kind of obstinate creature who would lift her chin, stare down the one trying to kill her, and die on her feet.
Her body was weak, so for all that drive, her range of action was never wide. And yet she moved like this, without warning.
She had taken that frail body all the way to East Port, trusting nothing but that intuition? In the worst case, she could investigate East Port and then proceed to the Eastern Continent. And if Olivia and Lilith were to meet, things would become troublesome.
Lilith had always harbored such fierce affection for Olivia that she could fairly have been called a devotee. More precisely, it was probably admiration for the strong Olivia, born of her own weakness—but regardless, there was no telling what would happen if a Lilith that well-disposed toward her heard Olivia's story.
Troublesome.
Lilith rarely showed her face in public, but because that intuition of hers had solved any number of problems, she commanded considerable support among the citizens. It was nothing compared to the Hero's party that had slain the Demon King, of course. But if she announced the Hero's survival, and if Olivia the Hero denounced the truth herself, their positions would reverse in an instant.
"We have less time than I thought. We may have to resort to somewhat rough methods."
"Amazing! The red moon is gone! Everyone seems to have fainted! Amazing! Really!"
That was Sylphy's pure, unguarded praise. However much I had been expecting something, I had never thought the matter would be resolved in so short a time. Well—even without me, the Hero would have won on her own. I had merely erased the casualties that would have occurred along the way.
"Lord Lois?"
"Don't come any closer!"
"Ah—yes! Th-the flames……!"
This was why I hadn't wanted to use it. I had held it longer than I'd meant to. I tried somehow to quell the fire, but it rose from my body all the same, scorching the earth around me. Worse than I had imagined. Having used it after so long, it seemed all the more vigorous for the rest. I couldn't let it damage the village, so I suppressed it as best I could—but I could not stop the flames from flickering across my skin.
Light wavered from my chest. The pain that came with it, the kind that blanked the mind, dragged up the past, and I found myself frowning without meaning to.
Just an ordinary Spiritist from the slums. Aside from being a Spiritist, there was nothing special about me. But if I had to name one thing—I had been able to turn my body, temporarily, into a spirit. That was the technique I possessed, called Spirit Integration, and it was not something I had created. I had not learned it. I had been in an environment where I had no choice but to acquire it by force.
No. I needed to think about whether "acquired" was even the right word.
"Guh—"
My body had returned to being human, but the spirit's flames had slipped, little by little, beyond my control, and they were leaving burns. I needed to calm it down, quickly. There would be some scorching, but if I could just hold on a few more minutes—
"Lois?"
"……!"
The Hero was standing right there, staring at me with a startled face. She set down the corpse-like thing she had been holding in one hand and looked at me. My skin had cracked open, and flames flickered from within. It was certainly not a pleasant sight. The fire wavering nearby flared larger still, as if it understood my agitation.
It's fine. Just a few more minutes……
"Lois."
"Wait—Miss Livia! Don't come any closer! You'll get burned! Just a little longer—"
But as if she had no intention of listening, the Hero came toward me. I had thought this the last time, too—she really, truly did not listen. And maybe that was a good thing. She had not become a doll who, out of gratitude, would follow whatever I said. That was why she shone all the more. That was part of what made her so captivating.
She was in front of me in an instant. The flames were still flickering, and she paid them no mind at all as she looked at me.
"What's this?"
"A spirit's flame."
"Why's your arm like this?"
"My body temporarily became a spirit."
"I see."
Had she understood? It was not something that should have been possible. Spirit Integration as a technique did not even exist in this world. Whether the Hero knew it could not arise naturally, or whether she didn't—I had no way of telling. She was simply calm. Her eyes did not tremble. Those red irises held nothing but me.
"Have you calmed down?"
"……"
The flames sank quickly and soaked back into my body. Soon the flesh that had looked like shattered glass restored itself, and I returned fully to an ordinary human form. Only then did the Hero look at me and smile, and I stared blankly at that face.
"I figured you were hiding something, but this is absurd. That's a basilisk, right? You burned it up in one shot? That's incredible!"
"You're not going to ask anything?"
"Mm. I want to ask, but I don't want to ask."
"What does that mean?"
"I feel like asking questions, but—how do I put this. ……That secret might be a wound for you."
She smiled, awkwardly. She had probably known I was hiding something. She might even have guessed I was hiding some kind of power. She was a person of exceptional instinct, someone who practically made a living off it.
"But I am curious."
"Do you want to hear it?"
"Mm. Do I have the right to touch that wound? Are you giving me the right to touch it?"
Innocent. She knew only one thing, and even on this night she shone as if it were midday. It was something that could well have been compared to the sun. The Hero slowly set her hand upon my chest.
"……"
She looked at me straight on. Then and now, she never ran. She always faced the situation as it was. She had never fled from anything. The Hero said she herself had no courage, but of all the people I knew, she seemed the bravest. Having fear did not mean you lacked courage.
"It isn't a pleasant story."
"I still want to know."
"……"
"I want you to be as precious to yourself as you are to me. So I want to know you."
"I might leave a bad impression. You might be disappointed."
"Why?"
The Hero smiled.
"I'll just be learning one more thing about you."
"……Hah. Do as you like. It really isn't a pleasant story."
"I can touch it, then. I'm glad…… I must be someone worthy of your trust."
The trust had been there from long ago. The trust that she would never cross the line. I had always thought of her as someone I could believe in. And that face, like a sun illuminating this dark night—for some reason, I could not meet it head-on.
"First, once the village finishes cleaning up……"
I carefully turned my gaze aside, and there was Sylphy.
"Uh, um……"
"Ah."
"Ah, Sylphy! You don't look hurt, thankfully!"
Sylphy, who had been watching the two of us, was looking this way with a face gone scarlet, both hands clapped over it. He was covering his face, yes—but the gaps between his fingers were so wide that his eyes were perfectly visible.
"……"
I clutched my head. The Hero, for her part, seemed entirely unbothered. I was going to lose my mind. I was the one getting embarrassed, for no reason at all.
Not knowing anything but charging straight ahead is scarier than I thought.